all about Madonna

Madonna News Archives for February 2008

“I have moments where I feel incredibly invincible and know that I have the audience in my hand… and then I have panic attacks, where I feel like everyone is breathing my air, and I might just die on stage” – Madonna

In the April issue of the magazine, out March 13th, undisputed heavyweight champ of reinvention Madonna talks exclusively to Dazed & Confused’s Jefferson Hack about her latest incarnation.

In her first interview about her new album Hard Candy, worked on with Justin Timberlake, Pharrell, and Timbaland, Madonna discusses her many different, and occasionally contradictory, roles – as performer and provocateur, mother and artist, style icon and campaigner. Photographed by long-time collaborator Steven Klein, the queen of pop looks as uncompromising, tough and sexy as ever.

This unique tribute issue also features 70 pages of Madonna-inspired fashion and art, including contributions from Katy England and Alasdair McLellan, Emile Larsson, Nicola Formichetti and Benjamin Alexander Huseby, plus new works from artists such as Matthew Stone, Alex Rose, and Daniel Sannwald.

Madonna says she has “come around” to the idea of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a March 10 ceremony in New York City.

Initially, the 49-year-old Material Girl was hesitant about the tribute that will see her career honoured alongside fellow 2008 inductees such as Canadian Leonard Cohen.

“I heard about it and I kind of felt ambivalent, like, ‘What is that, the place they put musical dinosaurs?’ ” Madonna told reporters from around the globe yesterday, including Sun Media in a Canadian print exclusive. She has just started promoting her new hip-hop and R&B-drenched dance album, Hard Candy, due in stores April 29.

“I didn’t really know what to think of it,” she said, “but then lots of people explained to me that it’s an acknowledgement of singers and songwriters who have made a contribution in the world of music for 25 years, and so eventually I came around to the idea that it was flattering.”

And she’s pleased that she will be inducted by one of her Hard Candy collaborators, Justin Timberlake, who co-wrote many of the songs and sings on the new album, including the Timbaland-produced first single, Four Minutes. Timberlake also appears in the video alongside her as two superheroes trying to save the world.

“It was Justin who offered and kind of surprised me, when we were shooting the video — he said he wanted to be the person to induct me, so to speak, so I said, ‘Okay,’ ” said Madonna, who added how the rest of the induction evening will unfold is up in the air.

“It’s supposed to be a surprise for me — somebody sings one of my songs,” she said before adding, “Yikes! No, I’m just kidding. I don’t know.”

The Material Girl — dressed in a snug-fitting, low-cut black top, black pants and large yellow hoop earrings and yellow high heels — entered a small conference room at a Beverly Hills hotel late yesterday afternoon and uttered a quiet “hi” before being seated. And for the next 35 minutes, she proved to be a challenging, if funny and thoughtful, interview subject.

For example, if she didn’t like a question — such as the one about how her views on life and music had changed in her 20s, 30s, 40s — she’d take a pass.

“That’s like a gigantic question — I’m not answering that question, be more specific,” Madonna said, before getting the journalist to narrow it down to music. “We’ll be here for six hours if you want to know how my views on life have changed over the past 30 years.”

One popular topic was of her turning 50 on August 16, which seemed to be a much bigger deal for reporters than Madonna herself.

“It’s not a bad word, you can say it,” she said when one reporter whispered “5-0.”

And when the same reporter asked her about reaching “a landmark for a lady,” she made the journalist clarify that to it’s “a landmark for everybody.”

She said she doesn’t see turning 50 as a milestone.

“No, but everybody else keeps mentioning it,” she said. “I see it as another excuse to have a birthday party.”

In fact, Madonna said physically, “I feel stronger now than, maybe, 20 years ago — but I think your physicality is connected to your consciousness so if your mind is strong, your body will be strong.”

Speaking of which, Hard Candy will be her final studio record with Warner after a 26-year relationship. But she says it’s neither scary nor liberating to leave.

Her new, reported $120-million deal with Live Nation includes albums, touring and merchandising.

“It’s just the end of my contract and the record industry is changing. And so the way that I make music and the way that I get it out to the people and the way that we market it and release it will also have to change,” she said. “I’m excited about my new deal because it’s more of a partnership, and after 25 years I feel like I deserve to be a partner.”

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Daughter Lourdes gets into the act

LOS ANGELES — Madonna says she is not done with filmmaking after the first movie she directed, Filth and Wisdom, had its debut at the Berlin Film Festival last month.

“I would like to direct more films and write them and you know I’ve only done one, so to me that’s the beginning of that career,” Madonna told Sun Media yesterday.

As for her 11-year-old daughter, Lourdes, it turns out she wants to be in front of the camera and Madonna, whose own acting career has never matched her success in music, doesn’t have a problem with it.

“She says she wants to be an actress, I don’t mind,” she said.

As for the plight of the current crop of Hollywood twentysomethings — Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, etc. — Madonna said she has sympathy for them.

“Yes, I do feel for them but I think we’re all responsible for it as well,” she said. “We buy the magazines. We are hungrily devouring all the information.

“So we all have to take responsibility for it and I think it’s all tragic and I feel for the girls but you can’t think it’s their fault, you can’t think it’s the paparazzi’s fault. Everybody’s responsible for it and because of the Internet there’s a lot of competition now with magazines — and you just have to do the math. Now people have to do more and more and more to get attention, to sell their product, to sell their magazines so now they have no limits, no boundaries. It’s a kind of madness.”

She said she’s not still in touch with Spears, with whom she collaborated on a song previously, but thinks Spears can come back from her current downward spiral.

“I think anything is possible,” said Madonna.

And as for who she’s supporting for the Democratic presidential nomination in the U.S., Madonna wouldn’t say, other than, “I’m just very happy that it’s a woman and an African-American.”

HX: I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but there’s an Internet war between Janet and Madonna fans. I know you and Madonna had some beef in the ’90s, but do you think the heat between Madonna and Janet fans has any validity?

Janet: No–I didn’t know this was going on. [Laughs]

HX: They argue, make videos and, of course, it’s mostly the gay fans. So people are curious: What are your thoughts on Madonna now?

J: I think she’s done wonderful things. She’s done great things in her career, in her life, and more power to her. I think fans will always be that way–always. They’re just incredibly loyal and they love you so much that if anyone says anything remotely negative, they’re there to just immediately jump on them. It’ll always be that way–very loyal.

HX: If a “Janet” drag queen had to battle a “Madonna” drag queen, what advice would you give the “Janet” queen?

We’re happy to confirm that Madonna will attend the 2008 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which will take place In New York on March 10.

Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of her first studio album’s release this year, Madonna will be inducted by none other than Justin Timberlake, who co-written some of the songs featured on Madonna’s forthcoming album, Hard Candy.

Other inductees include Leonard Cohen, The Dave Clark Five, John Mellencamp and The Ventures. The full ceremony will be broadcasted live at 8:30P/7:30C on VH1 Classic. Get ready for a very special night!

Madonna joked with fellow jurors that she was an “unemployed mom” when she turned up for jury duty in Los Angeles.

The Material Girl star was called for service on Monday. She turned up wearing a tracksuit at the Beverly Hills Courthouse in California hiding behind dark glasses – and complained that she was exhausted before winning over other people who had been called to do their duty.

A source said: “She was laughing with jurors and said she hated the movie ‘Enchanted.’

” When the court started calling out jurors’ names, Madonna got up to stand in the unemployed line and joked, ‘I’m gonna tell them I’m an unemployed mom.’ ”

She also complained that she was sleep deprived – after hosting a post-Oscar party in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

The source told a US newspaper: “She complained that she got only three hours of sleep because of her Oscar party, and then asked another juror if she could lie down on the bench.”